Thursday, March 3, 2011

Interest & Commitment...and Ultrarunning

So speaketh Art Turock, motivational speaker and management theorist:

There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstances permit. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.

I submit that we Ultrarunners are both interested and committed--with a strong accent on committed--to our sport to an extent not seen among your typical weekend warrior. Ultrarunning engenders a sort of laid-back passion, a feeling that we get it, we have transcended other forms of running, and in our commitment to the backcountry sport we have arrived at the Promised Land.

I suppose that notion of transcendence could be labeled elitist, but to me it's kinda analogous to the thought that "It's not bragging if you can do it." Meaning that in Ultrarunning we really do transcend and function on a higher level. We are committed, but still take the time to smell the roses.

Perhaps I'm babbling, but this sport has given me so much and asked so little in return.